The Lagos chapter of the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA) has identified raw meat as a source of health concern. According to the group, unhygienic preparation of raw meat is a source of parasites and bacteria that result in food-borne and environmental diseases.
As the members move from their secretariat situated inside Johnson Agiri Complex, Oko Oba, Agege to the Abattoir, they sensitised consumers to the effects of poorly-processed or packaged meat that can cause illness. Examples of these diseases, they said, include Tuberculosis, Brucellosis and Leptospirosis Salmonellosis (typhoid fever), among others.
The President, Dr Alao Mobolaji said there is a global standard on how animals should be slaughtered and packaged as this can affect consumers’ health.
“Parasites and bacteria tend to come from an animal’s gut, an animal’s intestines. Any harmful micro-organism released could contaminate all the meat the butcher is preparing. Anything harmful lives on the surface of the meat, not inside the muscle.
“When meat is displayed in the open, flies will perch on it; potential buyers touch same without being mindful of the state of their hands in transmitting all sorts of pathogens. Then buyers move straight on to buy other things not giving thought to their hands and may even test garri, and some others edibles in the open market thereby ingesting the pathogens in them. Eventually, they get home, and as bacteria and others are still on the surface of the meat ill health is inevitable in all this.
“We are not asking Nigerians to jump into the change in meat handling but let all be aware that it is doable. Public health remains a major tool in promoting healthy living conditions among people and also ensuring human productivity and longevity.
“As public health officers, veterinarians play a key role in ensuring a comprehensive public health package for any community. As a result, we have decided to embark on what we have tagged ‘Meat Hygiene Awareness Campaign’, with the purpose of educating members of the public on the health dangers of unclean meat processing and meat products,” he said.
Dr Mobolaji said of all the diseases causing pathogens known to man, 61 per cent of them are known to affect both man and animals.
“These diseases are what we refer to as zoonotic diseases. Currently, Nigeria is ranked 4th in the world (behind India, Indonesia and China) with the highest cases of tuberculosis based on last year’s report of the World Health Organisation (WHO).”
According to the National TB and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP), over 600,000 new cases of tuberculosis occurred in Nigeria from a global report conducted in 2014. Brucellosis which is caused by Brucella abortus, an organism that is common in cattle, is a common occurrence in herdsmen and abattoir workers who have shown higher antibody titres for this organism.
This occurs via the illicit handling of aborted foetuses by herdsmen or evacuated foetuses from slaughtered cows at abattoirs. The disease in man often comes with undulating fever and sweating which is often mistaken for malaria. It is also a cause of infertility.
Salmonella disease, also known as typhoid fever, is known to affect 21.5 million people every year globally with majority from poor and under-developed nations. Typhoid fever is a growing monster in Nigeria with significant morbidity and human mortality. The organism can be found in meat, egg and milk.
The Vice-President, Dr Obafemi Adeniran said all of the aforementioned diseases can be easily contacted from unhygienic meat and meat products. It is on this premise that the NVMA Lagos, has decided to embark on this all-important meat hygiene awareness campaign with the purpose of, “educating members of the public on the health dangers of consuming unhygienically meat and meat products.
By sensitising butchers and meat sellers alike to the dangers of unwholesome practices in their slaughtering processes and sales of meat and meat products; to encourage members of the public to insist on buying only hygienically processed and packaged meat and meat products.”
Dr Adeniran said NVMA Lagos also “wants butchers to desist from unwholesome means of slaughtering and processing animal meat at the various slaughter houses and abattoirs, especially slaughtering of animals on bare floor.
“They should rather embrace modern and hygienic process of slaughtering animals. Meat vendors are to stop the sales of meat in open and unhygienic trays and tables, where they are exposed to flies. They should also stop the bare-hand handling of meat to be sold. But rather sell in hygienic selling wares, neatly wrapped in cellophanes and stored in refrigerating systems.”
Dr Mobolaji added: “Government should speed up the upgrade of existing slaughter facilities to accommodate modern trends and the rapid completion of private abattoirs around the state. Utilisation of rapid penside test kits at our abattoirs to screen cattle to check the presence of tuberculosis or brucellosis in them. It should also engage the services of more veterinarians to conduct the business of meat inspection at our various abattoirs and slaughter houses around the state.
“Available statistics makes it clear that Lagos State slaughters about 6,000 cattle daily (aside sheep, goats and pigs). But there are just 24 veterinarians in the employ of Lagos State to supervise the slaughtering of these animals and still conduct other duties.
“For us to effectively cover meat inspection demands of the state, more veterinarians need to be engaged. No community, state or nation can talk about a comprehensive public health package without doing due diligence with its veterinary service care delivery.
